MUSEUM: A 1972 Mercedes-Benz 600 limo, center, joins other classic and near-classic cars at the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center in Irvine. To see more museum images, go to www.ocregister.com/money MARK AVERY, THE REGISTER

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RESTORATION: Terry Stokes works on fixing up a 1936 Mercedes-Benz 2.3 Cabriolet at the classic center in Irvine. MARK AVERY, THE REGISTER

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NEW COAT: A 1956 Mercedes-Benz 190 SLR sits in the paint booth at the center. Half of the 525,000 North American collectible Mercedes are in Southern California. MARK AVERY, THE REGISTER

REFLECTIONS: The reflection of Liz Smith of PRA Destination Management of Costa Mesa appears in the window of a classic Mercedes during an event at the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center. MARK AVERY, THE REGISTER

Mercedes-Benz Classic Center

What: A combination museum, restoration and parts center that also serves as a meeting place for fans and collectors of vintage Mercedes-Benz cars. The original Mercedes-Benz Classic Center opened in Fellbach, Germany, in 1993.

IRVINE - When Mercedes-Benz decided to open a "classic" center outside Germany for the first time, Orange County instantly came to mind.

New York was out because fewer Mercedes are sold there and the cold winters put a damper on car collecting. San Diego was also briefly considered.

"But it was always Orange County because of the vehicle population," said Michael Kunz, general manager and curator of the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center in Irvine. "It's where the cars are. We're right in the middle of it."

Mercedes estimates half of the 525,000 North American collectible Mercedes are in Southern California, with Orange County coming in third to San Diego, ranked first, and Los Angeles. Southern California is also the world's No. 6 market for all new Mercedes - after Germany, the entire United States, Britain, Italy and France.

So Irvine, with its central location in the heart of collector country, became home to a 27,600-square-foot classic Mercedes-Benz center that celebrates its official grand opening today.

The facility is a combination museum, restoration shop and clubhouse for hobbyists. Mercedes spent "millions of dollars," Kunz said, to install four lifts and two other bays for repair work, a body and paint shop and a showroom floor with 30 collectible cars on exhibit.

There's a replica of the first Benz built in 1886 on sale for $65,000, an original 1928 town car with a carriage designed by coach builder Jacques Saoutchik available for $800,000 and a 1957 Gullwing 300 SL Coupe worth at least $500,000, according to Kunz.

Representing Mercedes' racing heritage is the Penske-Mercedes PC 23 Indy Car in which Al Unser won the 1994 Indianapolis 500 and a 1997 McLaren-Mercedes MP 4-12 that won the Australian Grand Prix. Mercedes' celebrity status takes a bow with a 1997 E60 custom-built for comedian Jerry Seinfeld.

"The built-in phone doesn't work, but it has a bunch of Long Island numbers in it," Kunz said of Seinfeld's car.

Car collectors say the center will make Orange County an even bigger draw for anyone who loves rare cars.

"It's wonderful that Mercedes selected Irvine because it helps me to rub shoulders with the people who restore cars," said Gerhard Schnuerer, a Huntington Beach engineer.

Schnuerer owns five vintage Mercedes, the oldest of which is an 1895 Benz Mylord, one of just four ever made and the only one in the United States. The classic center is currently restoring Schnuerer's 1936 230 W21 two-door Cabriolet B, at a cost of more than $20,000.

"I would probably have to spend $100,000 to completely restore it, but then it would lose its identity," said Schnuerer, whose regular car is a 2003 Mercedes G500 SUV.

Schnuerer said he sees as many Mercedes on the road in Orange County as his native Baden Baden, Germany, near the birthplaces of Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler, the two inventors whose companies merged in 1926 to form Daimler-Benz. These days, the company is known as DaimlerChrysler, after the 1998 merger of the German and American carmakers.

Orange County is already Mercedes country. The carmaker outsells every other luxury brand here and ranks No. 5 among all carmakers.

Fletcher Jones Motorcars in Newport Beach is the world's No. 1 Mercedes dealer and is the biggest car dealership overall in Orange County as well, selling 8,500 vehicles in 2005 and reporting revenue of $569 million.

The classic center's business plan is to make money by repairing, restoring and reselling vintage Mercedes, many of which fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars at auction.

Mercedes can offer classic car buyers papers that show its ownership history. The company keeps blueprints of every vehicle and part since the late 1800s. Kunz's parts department stocks car horns, taillights, hubcaps, seat covers, bumpers, speedometer faces and other parts made before 1989. Parts can be overnighted from a depot in Fontana or arrive from Germany in as little as 48 hours.

Terry Stokes, the restoration specialist, has spent 35 years restoring vintage cars and building original concept cars for racing legends such as Carroll Shelby and Parnelli Jones. After a day of working on cars, Stokes' fingernails are still clean.

"It's the way I learned to work," Stokes said. "Everything is in order."

Some local classic car experts think the center is ultimately more about building brand awareness than making a profit.

"I don't see them being successful with restorations," said Tom Shaughnessy, a vintage Ferrari restorer in San Clemente. "But they can afford it. They're Mercedes."

Mercedes executives acknowledge that the center's larger mission is to enhance the German automaker's image, which depends on corporate history as much as horsepower.

"It's a service," said Mark McNabb, vice president, marketing for Mercedes-Benz USA in Montvale, NJ. "It's about creating an experience."

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